


I Know the Sound of Your Heart

by comicfanperson



Series: JNPR and friends [13]
Category: RWBY
Genre: (at the end) - Freeform, Angst, Cuddles, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fear, Fluff, Fluff Defense Force, Fluff Defense Force Challenge, Gen, Sweet, Thunderstorms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:34:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23313985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comicfanperson/pseuds/comicfanperson
Summary: A storm threatens the safety of Team JNPOR, but they make it through together.(Oscar is scared of thunderstorms, and his team knows just how to make the fear go away.)
Relationships: Jaune Arc & Oscar Pine, Jaune Arc & Pyrrha Nikos & Oscar Pine & Lie Ren & Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc/Lie Ren/Pyrrha Nikos/Nora Valkyrie (Background), Oscar Pine & Everyone, Oscar Pine & Lie Ren, Oscar Pine & Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos & Oscar Pine
Series: JNPR and friends [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1632898
Comments: 17
Kudos: 50





	I Know the Sound of Your Heart

**Author's Note:**

> im,,,,,,, so fucking sOft,,,,, for these kids,,,,,,,,,,
> 
> as always, beta'd by the amazing @albion-93(tumblr)/Albion_93(Ao3)!!! im always so inspired by you my guy, u really out here making me want to produce the best possible work i can huh <3
> 
> i really hope yall enjoy this!!!! i have a few other wips going on rn, so it'll be a toss up as to when another oneshot gets posted and what exactly it'll be about.

It was pitch black outside, and it would’ve been impossible to tell what was going on out there if it wasn’t for the lights on the back porch, but Oscar could make out the trees waving with the wind and the rain pelting down into the yard. He jumped back when lightning suddenly flashed across the sky and thunder came rolling after it mere  _ seconds  _ later. His heart raced and his breath quickened. The kitchen lights flickered, and over the rain and thunder he could hear his teammates taking precautionary measures. 

“Do the flashlights have fresh batteries?” Jaune said, his voice sounding like it was underwater, distant, Oscar was unable to really comprehend the fact people were even talking. Nora gave a confident confirmation, and they continued on with the lists. 

Oscar felt his breathing become more restricted the longer he watched the sky, but couldn’t find it in himself to tear his eyes away. He rubbed his hands up and down his arms in a poor attempt at self-soothing, but what little comfort there was was instantly ripped away by another spider strike of lightning and crash of thunder. All Oscar could do was focus on the weather, memories of locking farm animals and stray work tools in the barn as him and his aunt prepared for a massive tornado filling his mind.

He remembers the heavy, yellow blanket of clouds in the sky. 

He remembered the still, thick,  _ moist  _ air. 

He remembered his head throbbing from the rising humidity.

He remembered hunkering down in the underground tornado shelter, clinging onto his aunt as she shushed him over the noise. 

He remembered thinking the animals were scared too, and they needed comfort just as much as he did. 

He remembered thinking they were going to die as the storm swirled angrily above them.

_ “We’re lucky it only took off some of the roof and the porch,”  _ Aunt Em had said without missing a beat as soon as they had crawled out from the shelter and saw the house. 

“Oscar, get away from the window,” Jaune said, panic filling his voice, tearing Oscar away from his thoughts. By now Oscar’s mind felt as blurry as the rain outside as he backed up to a safe distance just as Jaune told him, but it seemed unnecessary because the knight just ended up pulling the young teen over to the living room just moments later. 

His breathing slowly became sharper, shallower, the intense thunder was all around them now and he was nearly paralyzed by the familiar cold grip of fear deep within his bones. 

Pyrrha was sitting on the floor in front of the TV, watching the weather intensely while she rolled up blankets to be put in the bathroom with them. 

“Do we have any helmets?” Ren asked tensely, his arms braced against the back of the couch.

Jaune sat down next to Oscar and gently set a comforting hand on the teen’s shoulder. Oscar  _ wanted  _ to appreciate it, he  _ wanted  _ to lean into it, but he felt… frozen in place.  _ Paralyzed.  _ He found his eyes steadily growing heavier, and he unconsciously leaned back into the couch, curling into a ball as if that would stop this cacophonous  _ noise. _

“No,” Jaune sighed regretfully, “We can pull Oscar’s mattress off his bed and cover our heads with it, though. If worse comes to worse.”

Nora sat down on the other side of him, tugging a blanket over his shoulders in the process. 

“Oscar?” she said gently, “Are you okay?”

__ He scrunched his eyes up and stared at his feet, shrinking in on himself as the thunder came again. He could’ve sworn it was two times louder than it was before.

He could hardly even croak out an answer, the sound of the storm was deafening and he couldn’t even gather his thoughts over the noise. 

Oscar swallowed dryly, and managed to whisper out, “ _ Thunder.”  _

Nora looked conflicted, and he noticed her glance at the other three in hopes of some kind of answer; each of them showed grave yet understanding expressions. Now she started to grow nervous herself as her boy was growing more desperate and frighteningly motionless… 

“I understand,” she finally said, a rawness to her voice that he didn’t quite recognize, “I was terrified of storms until I was eleven. Ren… Ren would hold my hand through every single one, and sing me a lullaby that his mother used to sing to him.”

Oscar’s tired eyes met her dull ones, disbelief conveyed through the one look. It didn’t make sense, she was  _ Nora Valkyrie.  _ She was a goddess, her semblance was triggered by lightning and she could control the stuff!

“I got so scared of thunderstorms that all I could do was cry through them,” she admitted ashamedly, but then she got that sentimental smile on her face as she looked up at Ren, “One day, Ren bought ear plugs for me, and they  _ really  _ helped. Then, I got my semblance, and realized that I was a storm all of my own.”

Nora held Oscar’s face between the palms of hands, making sure he was looking her directly in the eye, “That goes for you, too, okay?”

Something within Oscar _ melted  _ at that. She was right. He may not have been a storm like the one all around them, but he could still be a force of nature. And, well… In a way he already was, right? A teenager with magic? An immortal being living in his head? A  _ body-count?  _

Okay, maybe not  _ really  _ that last one, but the point still stood.

His hands quivering, he gently grabbed Nora’s hands and moved them from his cheeks to his ears, and then pressed down on them so that her hands were essentially blocking out most of the noise. The Huntress got the idea fairly quickly, and gave him a soft, understanding smile, as she pressed down on his ears to help block out the noise.

They stayed like that for what could’ve been hours. Oscar found himself drifting off, the lack of noise and the comfort of Nora just  _ being there _ was incredibly comforting. Between moments of sleep, he realized that Nora shifted them so he was laying in her lap, her hands still pressing hard against his ears. He would look at the TV every once in a while, Pyrrha had been joined by Jaune and Ren on the floor, all three of them leaning against each other.

The weather reporter pointed at the screen and showed where the worst of the storm would hit, and occasionally showed photos of where the storm had already passed but left lots of damage. He shuddered at the thought that that could be  _ their  _ house. He cuddled closer to Nora and squeezed his eyes shut tight, hoping to block out the entire situation. Oscar trusted his teammates to move him to the bathroom if the weather man said they should. 

It must have been at least half an hour later when Nora gently shook him awake, her hands now gone from where they’d been against his ears. The first thing he noticed was that the sound of the storms had completely disappeared. The next was that Ren was kneeling in front of them, a relieved grin on his face. 

“The storms are over,” he told Osar, his arms outstretched to the young teen, “I can take you upstairs.”

Oscar gave a short, quick nod of understanding, then allowed the older Huntsman’s arms to wrap around him so that Oscar was propped against Rens’ waist. Ren easily carried Oscar upstairs and to the master bedroom.

“I can sleep in my own bed,” Oscar murmured.

“We would all feel better if you were in here with us tonight,” Ren said reassuringly. 

He set Oscar down in the bed, and then kicked off his shoes and curled up next to his friend. 

“Where are the others?” Oscar asked, sounding particularly sleepy. 

Ren hummed mischievously, like he was deep in thought, “Making a surprise.”

Moments later, the others came bounding up the stairs like a herd of wild Goliaths, Ren chuckling to himself at his partners’ antics. The door was burst open by Nora, and she took a running jump into the bed. Oscar laughed as she dramatically pulled him into her lap, chattering on about how she really hoped Oscar liked the surprise. He looked over at Pyrrha and Jaune, and saw Pyrrha carrying a tray with bowls on it, spoons sticking out of them. 

“We weren’t sure which flavor you would like,” Jaune admitted, flushed with embarrassment, “But we only had two flavors anyways so just pick whichever one you want.” 

Pyrrha dipped the tray down just enough for Oscar to peer over the lip of it and see the contents of the bowl. He was genuinely surprised to see ice cream, and for a second was shot back to hot, humid summer evenings sitting on the porch with his aunt, eating ice cream they had churned themselves and teasing the overly hyper dog with it.

“Thank you,” he said, beaming at them all despite the slight glistening in his eyes, “I’ve um, only had a few flavors before so I wouldn’t really know…”

“Cookies ‘n Cream, and Triple Chocolate,” Nora supplied helpfully, pointing at each flavor so he could get an idea. Wordlessly, the teen grabbed a bowl of Cookies n’ Cream, taking a bite off the spoon rather awkwardly from where he was positioned on the bed. All four of his friends giggled, and Ren offered further assistance l by taking the bowl from Oscar’s hands so he could adjust himself comfortably on the bed. 

They all settled into the bed, Pyrrha turning on the TV to what had become a favorite movie between the five of them. After the stress of the day, curling up and calming down together was the best way to end it. Oscar was eternally grateful for the help, love and care his teammates effortlessly shared with him on a daily basis. It was incredible to him the way they just…  _ cared  _ so endlessly for him, for each other. It was such a stark difference to how this journey had begun. After a long and bitter struggle where no one was sure if they would survive to see the end of it, this was just the way they all wanted to spend their lives hereafter. 

As he snuggled in with his family, boxed in from either side by Nora and Jaune with arms stretched over his shoulders, he felt warm and safe,  _ loved.  _ He felt like he could heal and live a normal life. He felt like he could do anything as long as his team, his  _ family,  _ was there to back him up.

And something told him they always would. 


End file.
